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Support Toha Kai
Support Toha Kai
Toha Kai is seeking to break ground on a new farm and a new way of growing. We have managed to bring in nearly $100,000 in funding to get up and running and guarantee paid employment for our head grower. We have realised we can’t do this on our own and we need the community to support us.
When most people hear the term investment they think of capital and shareholding, in this case we are asking for our community to generously gift us the financial resources we need to invest into the infrastructure of the farm and the wellness of the community. Once set up, the farm will allow us to continue to grow affordable healthy food for years to come...
If you back our vision of a local organic focused food system and would like to contribute to the farm build please consider investing through one of the options listed below.
Where we are at
$8050 invested by 61 people
Help us reach our optimum target of $75,000
10%
$8050
$75,000
to go!
Join our farm build!
Walk along with us as we build this farm. We want transparency to be at the root of our practice, so you know exactly what your contribution goes towards. We have already invested $70,000 and would love the farm to be equally supported by the community. By investing, you become a part of our Toha Kai whānau.
This means:
- You can opt in to receive regular updates about the farm build, and/or sign up to monthly newsletter
- You will be invited to our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day. It will be a chance for you to come together to see how your support has helped and enjoy delicious tasters of our farm’s seasonal produce. It will be a celebratory gathering complete with music and possibly even lawn games!
Plant a blueberry bush! $25
As keen Permies, we are keen to utilise as much of the space as we can to produce seasonally and climate appropriate yumminess. The edges can often be forgotten yet productive spaces. We are wanting to plant up to 200 blueberry bushes on the farm that will be a nice seasonal treat for our Toha Kai customers. Blueberries are perennial, which means they will produce from season to season, year on year. Blueberries are high in antioxidants and taste amazing!
Co-Investment Perks
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Plant a row of seedlings! $50
It will come as no surprise to you that one of our biggest assets will be our people. We have enough funding for our Head Grower for 12 months, but we would like some company. The physical work on a farm goes much quicker with a laugh and someone to have a hot cuppa with on those frosty mornings. Planting a row of seedlings contributes 1.75 hours worth of wages for a Farm Hand at above Living Wage.
Co-Investment Perks
- 1 x Toha Kai campaign sticker
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Invest in a community Educator! $75
Growing and selling amazing kai is definitely our stock and trade, but it is plain to see there are still many challenges for people within our communities that stop them from eating for wellness. We want to create a new Community Educator role that prioritises creating resources and content to empower our communities towards wellness. Investing in a Community Educator contributes 2 hours worth of above Living Wage pay plus some money for resources.
Co-Investment Perks
- 2 x Toha Kai campaign sticker
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Protect with Crop Cover Mesh! $100
As we are strongly in favour of using organic principles to grow our kai, using sprays is not an option for us. Pest management is a key day to day task on an organic farm, these amazing crop covers allow the plants to grow underneath, getting all the sun and water they need, and keep the pests out. On our site, not only will we have the insect populations to strike a balance with, but also rabbits, hares and pukekos. These crop covers are like an amazing insurance policy! Investing in Protect with Crop Cover Mesh contributes 12.5m or 1⁄4 of a 50m roll of insurance 🙂
Co-Investment Perks
- A set of 4 Toha Kai campaign stickers
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Buy 10,000 Broccoli Seeds! $250
We need seeds!!! Good seeds with good germination rates. Buying in bulk like this saves us money, reduces packaging and allows us to sow a significant number of each of the different varieties we will be growing on the farm. Our first plantings will be Pak Choi, Spring Onions, Radish and Spinach for Spring Harvest...then lots of Broccoli, Cauliflower, Cabbages, Kohlrabi and Celeriac...and Corn!!! Buy 10,000 Broccoli Seeds will contribute 1 bag of seeds to head into germination...and we will need a lot of seeds!
Co-Investment Perks
- A Tini Toha Kai box
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Invest in our human powered tools! $500
We all know how important it is to find ways to create less emissions...well..swapping fossil powered machinery for human scale tools is an easy and effective way to do that. It also keeps us fit and in touch with what is happening in the soil every day. We are big on small scale growing for these reasons. Transplanters, tilthers and seeders...these all allow us to operate in an energy positive manner whilst using time effectively. Invest in our Human Powered Tools contributes 8.33% of our first transplanter system or 40% of our first Jang Seeder or 36% towards our first tilther.
Co-Investment Perks
- A Nui Toha Kai box
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Water our seedlings! $1000
Water...one of the essences of life and a very precious taonga. We are lucky enough to have access to an artesian well onsite and we are keen to design the most water efficient way of growing healthy nutritious kai possible. This not only includes the hoses and pipes we will need, but also a water meter to measure water usage, a timer to limit water use and a water moisture sensor system to measure the effectiveness of the system. The plants will tell us most of what we need to know, but data becomes very important for transparently sharing this information with you! Water our Seedlings will contribute 7% towards our total irrigation budget.
Co-Investment Perks
- 4 Week Subscription to an appropriate sized Toha Kai box
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Tunnel Houses and Shipping Container! $5000
Tunnelhouses and shipping containers....structures are an important aspect of farm life. Tunnelhouses for germination and growing...shipping containers for storage. We plan to have a bespoke greenhouse built utilising a house lot of aluminium windows from our landlords house (they upgraded to double glazing). This will be used for germination of our seedlings. We dream of having 2 tunnelhouses (6m wide x 12m long) onsite too. This will extend our growing season a little and allow us to grow some crops that like an especially warm and stable climate. Finally...we need a place to store our tools and hide from the terrible weather. Tunnelhouses and Shipping Containers will contribute 10% towards our dream infrastructure goals!
Co-Investment Perks
- 12 Week Subscription to an appropriate sized Toha Kai box
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
Be a Farm Legend! $25,000
For the legend out that wholeheartedly gets behind the idea of local, diverse and dispersed food systems that are as ecologically responsible as possible. For the research to be shared as an open source model to be implemented anywhere people share the same values. For a future where communities are fed from local farms that produce nutritious fresh kai, which in turn supports a higher level of wellness.
Co-Investment Perks
- 12 Month Subscription to an appropriate sized Toha Kai box
- An invitation to join us on our yearly Toha Kai Whānau Day
* Toha Kai boxes are only deliverable to Ōtautahi and surrounding region, or by direct pick-up from our depot on an arranged day and time.
To date we have spent around $70,000 on items such as compost, propagation equipment, infrastructure, woodchip, irrigation, insurance, tools and leasing the land. Below are the remaining minimum start-up costs.
- Commercial tunnel houses ($30,000)
- Shipping Container ($5000)
- Irrigation System ($14,000)
- Building a wash facility ($3000)
- Employ a Farm Hand ($30,000 per annum)
- Seeds ($5000 per annum)
- Community Educator ($20,000 per annum)
- Human Powered Tools ($10,000)
Stretch Goal:
$120,000 covers all of our major infrastructure costs plus staffing costs for the first year. Takes stress off and creates an amazing support system that starts creating food sovereignty for our communities.
Optimum Goal:
$75,000 matches the current level of funding for the farm. It will allow us to invest in the infrastructure we need to set the farm up for ongoing success. As well as helping us to start cover the staffing costs of the 2 new roles.
Minimum Goal:
$50,000 allows us to purchase the basics for our farm set up. Our minimum goal means we may have to wait until the farm is generating an income before we can look at the 2 new roles and some infrastructure costs.